With the
completion of the Staffordshire &
Worcestershire Canal in 1772, which connected the
River Severn at Stourport with the collieries and
industries of the Midlands, a proposal was made
to link Herefordshire to the rapidly growing
canal network. The suggested route of 46 miles
would take the canal across difficult terrain
from Hereford to the River Severn at Stourport
via Leominster, Woofferton, Tenbury and Mamble.
It was
envisaged that the canal would be used to carry
stone, lime, iron ore and agricultural produce to
the Severn and to bring back coal and also
merchandise for the small towns, such as Tenbury,
along the canal's route. Coal would also be
carried from Sir Walter Blount's mines at Mamble.
Thomas
Parker of Kington wrote this poem in 1785 on his
hopes for the canal.
...
If Navigation here were brought to thrive,
'Twould
make the town and country more alive,
A
cut from hence to Stourport would be found
Of
greatest service to the country round:
All
kinds of business then would brisker grow,
And
trade and commerce round us gaily flow
Arise
ye friends, ye patriots of the town,
And
make your active public spirit known;
For
this affair (if rightly understood)
Cements
the private with the public good;
I
wish with my whole heart to see it done,
Let
every friend to commerce help it on.
Thomas
Dadford was appointed as Engineer and
construction began in 1791. The first section
from the Wharf House at Marlbrook, near Mamble,
to Woofferton Wharf opened on the 20th October
1794. The Wharf House at Marlbrook was the
canal's headquarters and coal was transported on
a tramway from the Blount's mines to the wharf
where it was loaded on to the waiting barges.
Woofferton Wharf had a basin and a warehouse.
This
section also included several structures. An
aqueduct was required to carry the canal over the
River Rea between Mamble and Newnham Bridge. It
was built mostly of brick with a span of 41 feet
making it the largest single brick span aqueduct
in the country at that time. The Rea Aqueduct was
poorly constructed and soon had to be
strengthened with timber and iron tie bars. At
Newnham Bridge a 94 yard tunnel was constructed
and a three arched aqueduct crossed the River
Teme between Little Hereford and Woofferton.
The first
boat carried coal from Mamble and arrived at
Tenbury where the coal was distributed amongst
the poor. A local news paper reported that there
was ringing of bells, firing of cannon, roasting
of sheep, etc., manifested the joy of the
numerous spectators who were drawn together on
this happy event.
The second
section from Woofferton to Kimbolton, just north
of Leominster, was completed by 1796 making the
canal 18.5 miles long. This section included the
much delayed, 330 yard Putnal Fields Tunnel east
of Orleton. The 1254 yard Southnet Tunnel from
the wharf at Marlbrook towards Frith Common was
also nearing completion, with both entrances
constructed, but part of the tunnel fell in. It
is said that two canal workers in a narrow boat
lost their lives when the tunnel collapsed. In
addition, a stocking pool reservoir was built at
Sodington, south of Mamble, to supplement the
Marlbrook which initially fed water to the canal.
By 1797
the money had run out to repair the still
unfinished Southnet tunnel and complete the canal.
Consequently, work on the canal's most ambitious
structure, the 3850 yard Pensax Tunnel, was
stopped early in it's construction. This tunnel
would have been one of the longest in Britain and
taken the canal east towards the Severn Valley. A
series of locks would then have dropped the canal
down 207 feet to the River Severn at Stourport.
In 1803 the possibility of a less costly tramway
link from the Southnet Tunnel to Stourport was
considered. Again insufficient funds were
available although a short tramway appears to
have been built from the mines at Pensax to the
road.
With the
emergence of the railways in the 1840's the canal
had insufficient traffic to make it profitable
and eventually in 1858 the canal was closed and
subsequently drained. In 1860 some of the land
was sold to the Tenbury Railway which built it's
line over the canal bed from Burford to Newnham
Bridge.
The route
of the canal can still be followed today. Remains
of the canal can be seen near Mamble including
the southern entrance to the Southnet Tunnel, the
grand Wharf House at Marlbrook and the Rea
Aqueduct. Further west the Teme Aqueduct still
stands, although the central arch was apparently
blown up by the Home Guard during the 2nd World
War, and the northern entrance to the Putnal
Fields Tunnel can be seen.
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